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Avatar (2009 film)

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This article is about the 2009 film made by James Cameron. For the 2010 film based on the media franchise, Avatar: The Last Airbender, see The Last Airbender.
Avatar
File:Avatar-Teaser-Poster.jpg
Teaser poster
Directed byJames Cameron
Written byJames Cameron
Produced byJames Cameron
Jon Landau
StarringSam Worthington
Zoë Saldaña
Sigourney Weaver
Michelle Rodriguez
Stephen Lang
Joel David Moore
Giovanni Ribisi
CCH Pounder
Dileep Rao
Matt Gerald
Laz Alonso
Peter Mensah
Wes Studi
CinematographyMauro Fiore
Edited byJohn Refoua
Stephen E. Rivkin
Music byJames Horner
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
December 18, 2009
Running time
More than 150 minutes estimated[1]
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUS$237 million[2]

Avatar is an upcoming 3-D science fiction epic film directed by James Cameron, due to be released on December 18, 2009.

Premise

The story’s protagonist, Jake Sully, is a former Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. In order to participate in the Avatar program, which will give him a healthy body, Jake agrees to travel to Pandora, a lush rainforest environment filled with incredible life forms – some beautiful, many terrifying. Pandora is also the home to the Na’vi, a humanoid race that lives at what humans would consider to be a primitive level, but are actually much more evolutionarily advanced than humans. Ten feet tall, with tails and blue skin that sparkles, the Na’vi live harmoniously within their unspoiled world. But as humans encroach on Pandora in search of valuable minerals, the Na’vi’s very existence is threatened – and their warrior abilities unleashed.

Jake has unwittingly been recruited to become part of this encroachment. Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Na’vi hybrids known as Avatars. The Avatars are living, breathing bodies in the real world, controlled by a human driver through a technology that links the driver’s mind to the Avatar body. On Pandora, through his Avatar body, Jake can be whole once again. Moreover, he falls in love with a young Na’vi woman, Neytiri, whose beauty is matched by her ferocity in battle.

As Jake slides deeper into becoming one of her clan, he finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth, and the Na’vi – forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of an entire world.

Cast

  • Sam Worthington as Jake Sully. Cameron cast the Australian actor after searching the world for promising young actors, preferring relative unknowns to keep the budget down. Worthington auditioned twice early in development,[3] and he has signed on for possible sequels.[4] Cameron felt because Worthington had not done a major film, he was "game for anything", giving the character "a quality that is really real. He has that quality of being a guy you'd want to have a beer with, and he ultimately becomes a leader who transforms the world."[5]
  • Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, a female Na'vi Jake initially betrays, but eventually falls in love with.[4] The character will be entirely computer generated.[6] Saldaña has also signed on for sequels.[4]
  • Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, a botanist who mentors Jake Sully.[7] Weaver dyed her hair red for the part.[8] Her character was named "Shipley" at one point.[9] The character reminded Weaver of Cameron himself, being "very driven and very idealistic".[10]
  • Michelle Rodriguez as Trudy Chacon, a retired Marine pilot. Cameron had wanted to work with Rodriguez since seeing her in Girlfight.[11]
  • Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge, a passive-aggressive character.[12]
  • Joel David Moore as Norm Spellman, an anthropologist who studies plant and nature life (like Weaver's character).[13]
  • CCH Pounder as Moha, the Na'vi queen.[14]
  • Stephen Lang as a Marine Corps colonel Quaritch. Lang had unsuccessfully auditioned for a role in Cameron's Aliens (1986); the director remembered Lang and cast him in Avatar.[11] Michael Biehn was considered for the role of Colonel Quaritch. He met with James Cameron three times and saw some of the 3D footage, but in the end it simply came down to the fact that Cameron didn't want people thinking it was Aliens all over again, as Sigourney Weaver had already been cast.
  • Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel.[15]
  • Matt Gerald as corporal Lyle Wainfleet, the main villain.[16]

Actors Laz Alonso as Tsu'Tey, Peter Mensah as Akwey, and Wes Studi are also in the film.[13]

Production

Development

In 1995, director James Cameron wrote an 80-page scriptment for Avatar.[3] Cameron said his inspiration was "every single science fiction book I read as a kid", and that he was particularly striving to update the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series. Cameron saw his story as being about how advanced civilizations supplant indigenous cultures, in either actively genocidal or more unpremeditated ways, and was influenced by the story of Pocahontas.[17] In Avatar, humanity extends that practice to entire planets.[3] In August 1996, Cameron announced that after completing Titanic, he would film Avatar, which would make use of "synthetic", or computer-generated, actors.[18] The project would cost $100 million and involve at least six actors in leading roles "who appear to be real but do not exist in the physical world".[19] Special effects house Digital Domain, with whom Cameron has a partnership, joined the project, which was supposed to begin production in the summer of 1997.[20] However, that was not to be.

In June 2005, director Cameron was announced to be working on a project tentatively titled "Project 880", concurrently with another project, Battle Angel.[21] By December, Cameron said that he planned to film Battle Angel first for a summer 2007 release, and to film Project 880 for a 2009 release.[22] In February 2006, Cameron said he had switched goals for the two film projects – Project 880 was now scheduled for 2007 and Battle Angel for 2009. He indicated that the release of Project 880 would possibly be delayed until 2008.[23] Later that February, Cameron revealed that Project 880 was "a retooled version of Avatar", a film that he had tried to make years earlier,[24] citing the technological advances in the creation of the computer-generated characters Gollum, King Kong and Davy Jones.[3] Cameron had chosen Avatar over Battle Angel after completing a five-day camera test in the previous year.[25]

Cameron's early scriptment for Avatar had circulated on the Internet for years. When the project was re-announced, copies were subsequently removed from websites.[26] In June 2006, Cameron said that if Avatar was successful, he hoped to make two sequels to the film.[27]

Wikinews has related news:

From January to April 2006, Cameron worked on the script. Working with Paul Frommer, linguist and Director of the Center for Management Communication at USC, he developed a whole language and culture for the Na'vi, the indigenous race on Pandora.[3] In July, Cameron announced that he would film Avatar for a summer 2008 release and planned to begin principal photography with an established cast by February 2007.[28] The following August, the visual effects studio Weta Digital signed on to help Cameron produce Avatar.[29] Stan Winston, who had collaborated with Cameron in the past, joined Avatar to help with the film's designs.[30] In September 2006, Cameron was announced to be using his own Reality Camera System to film in 3-D. The system would use two high-definition cameras in a single camera body to create depth perception.[31]

Filming and effects

It's this form of pure creation where if you want to move a tree or a mountain or the sky or change the time of day, you have complete control over the elements.

James Cameron on virtual filmmaking[32]

File:Ships flying on Pandora.jpg
Avatar was filmed using newly developed 3D virtual cameras, which would produce stereoscopic 3D images simulating human sight.

In December 2006, Cameron explained that the delay in producing the film since the 1990s had been to wait until the technology necessary to create his project was advanced enough. The director planned to create photo-realistic computer-generated characters by using motion capture animation technology, on which he had been doing work for the past 14 months. Unlike previous performance capture systems, where the digital environment is added after the actors' motions have been captured, Cameron's new virtual camera allows him to directly observe on a monitor how the actors' virtual counterparts interact with the movie's digital world in real time and adjust and direct the scenes just as if shooting live action; "It’s like a big, powerful game engine. If I want to fly through space, or change my perspective, I can. I can turn the whole scene into a living miniature and go through it on a 50 to 1 scale."[33] Cameron planned to continue developing the special effects for Avatar, which he hoped would be released in summer 2009. He also gave fellow directors Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson a chance to test the new technology.[34] Spielberg and George Lucas were also able to visit the set to watch Cameron direct with the equipment.[13]

Other technological innovations include a performance-capture stage, called The Volume, which is six times larger than previously used and an improved method of capturing facial expressions. The tool is a small individually made skull cap with a tiny camera attached to it, located in front of the actors' face which collects information about their facial expressions and eyes, which is then transmitted to the computers. This way, Cameron intends to transfer about 95% of the actors' performances to their digital counterparts[35]. Besides a real time virtual world, the team is also experimenting with a way of letting computer generated characters interact with real actors on a real, live-action set while shooting live action.[36]

In January 2007, Paramount Pictures announced a live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender under M. Night Shyamalan and said that the project's name had been registered to the Motion Picture Association of America for movie title ownership, though a 20th Century Fox representative for James Cameron's Avatar indicated that the studio owned the movie title.[37] Paramount eventually retitled its film as merely The Last Airbender.[38] In the same month, Fox announced that the studio's Avatar would be filmed in 3D with 24 frames per second. Cameron described the film as a hybrid with a full live-action shoot in combination with computer-generated characters and live environments. "Ideally at the end of the day the audience has no idea which they’re looking at," Cameron said. The director indicated that he had already worked four months on nonprincipal scenes for the film. Principal photography began in April 2007,[39] and was done around parts of Los Angeles as well as New Zealand. The live action is shot with the proprietary Fusion digital 3-D camera system developed by Cameron and Vince Pace. According to Cameron, the film will be composed of 60% computer-generated elements and 40% live action, as well as traditional miniatures.[40] The performance-capture photography would last 31 days at the Hughes Aircraft stage in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California.[25][41] In October, Cameron was scheduled to shoot live-action in New Zealand[11] for another 31 days.[3]

To create the human mining colony on Pandora, production designers visited the Noble Clyde Boudreaux drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico during June 2007. They photographed, measured and filmed every aspect of the rig, which will be replicated on-screen with photorealistic CGI.[42] Around 1000 people worked on the production.[41]

Music

Composer James Horner will score the film, which will be his third collaboration with Cameron after Aliens and Titanic.[43] Horner recorded parts of the score with a small chorus singing in the alien language Na'vi in March 2008.[44] He is also working with Wanda Bryant, an ethnomusicologist, to create a music culture for the alien race.[45] The first scoring sessions were planned to take place in spring.[46]

Release

Avatar was originally set for release on May 22, 2009 during filming,[47] but the film was pushed back to December 18, 2009. This was done to allow more post-production time, and to also give more time for theaters worldwide to install 3D projectors.[48] The film's aspect ratio will be 16:9, but a CinemaScope format will be extracted for 2D screenings since those theaters will not manage the film's actual ratio.[49] Avatar will also be released in IMAX 3D.[50] The first photo of the film was released on 14 August 2009.[51]

Marketing

Video game

Main article: James Cameron's Avatar: The Game

Cameron chose Ubisoft to create an Avatar game for the film in 2007. The filmmakers and game developers collaborated heavily, and Cameron decided to include some of Ubisoft's vehicle and creature designs into the film.[52]

Toy Line

A Mattel toy line will debut in November 2009. Each figure, creature, or vehicle will come with a 3D tag which can be scanned by a webcam, a technology also known as augmented reality, allowing the user to unlock content about the Avatar universe on their computer.[53] ‎

San Diego Comic-Con

Cameron, producer Jon Landau, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, and Sigourney Weaver appeared at a panel, moderated by Tom Rothman, at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con on July 23. 25 minutes of footage was screened[54] in Dolby 3D[55]. Weaver and Cameron appeared at additional panels to promote the film, speaking on the 23rd [56] and 24th [57] respectively.

Avatar Day

James Cameron announced at the Comic-Con Avatar Panel that August 21st will be 'Avatar Day'. On this day the trailer for the film will be released in all theatrical formats. Selected IMAX and digital 3D cinemas around the world will be screening, free of charge, a 16 minute preview of the film created by Cameron. All of the preview screenings sold out in less than 2 days. The official game and toy line of the film will also be fully unveiled on this day.[58] Apple Trailers will host the teaser trailer on August 20 from 7am PDT and 3pm GMT.

References

  1. ^ Peter Sciretta (2009-06-04). "Avatar Running Time is Over Two and a Half Hours". /Film. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  2. ^ Gregg Kilday, Alex Ben (Aug 18, 2009). ""Avatar" site crashes as fans seek tickets". Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Jeff Jensen (2007-01-10). "Great Expectations". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-01-28.
  4. ^ a b c 20th Century Fox (2007-01-09). "Cameron's Avatar Starts Filming in April". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2007-01-13.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ John Horn. "Faces to watch 2009: film, TV, music and Web". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  6. ^ "'Titanic' director's new film set for '09". CNN. 2007-01-09. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
  7. ^ Clint Morris (2007-08-02). "Sigouney Weaver talks Avatar". Moviehole.net. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  8. ^ Ryan Stewart (2008-02-21). "Exclusive: Sigourney Weaver Looks to the Future". Premiere. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  9. ^ "Things We've Learnt". Empire. February 2008. p. 27.
  10. ^ Shawn Adler (2008-02-27). "Sigourney Weaver's 'Avatar' Character Mirrors James Cameron, Actress Says". MTV Movies Blog. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  11. ^ a b c Anne Thompson (2007-08-02). "Lang, Rodriguez armed for 'Avatar'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  12. ^ Leslie Simmons (2007-09-21). "'Avatar' has new player with Ribisi". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
  13. ^ a b c Steve Chupnick (2007-08-30). "EXCL: Moore on Cameron's Avatar". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
  14. ^ Melissa Wilson (2007-04-30). "CCH Pounder on 'Avatar'". Retrieved 2009-05-18.
  15. ^ Lewis Bazley (2009-05-25). "Drag Me to Hell Review". inthenews.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  16. ^ Bryon Perry (2007-11-11). "Matt Gerald". Variety. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  17. ^ Brendon Connelly (2009-06-08). "Everything We Know About James Cameron's Avatar". /Film. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  18. ^ Judy Hevrdejs (1996-08-09). "Channel 2 has Monday morning team in place". Chicago Tribune. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Randy McMullen (1996-08-09). "People". Contra Costa Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ "Synthetic actors to star in Avatar". St. Petersburg Times. 1996-08-12. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  21. ^ Anne Thompson (2005-06-14). "Cameron turns to new project". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2006-10-18. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ Sheigh Crabtree (2005-12-07). "Cameron ready for 'Battle'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2006-10-18. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ Degen Pener (2006-02-17). "He'll Be Back". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  24. ^ Harry Knowles (2006-02-28). "Harry talks to James Cameron, Cracks PROJECT 880, the BATTLE ANGEL trilogy & Cameron's live shoot on Mars!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  25. ^ a b John Horn (2007-01-08). "Director Cameron to shoot again". Los Angeles Times.
  26. ^ Mike Sampson (2006-01-17). "Cameron's Project 880 is..." JoBlo.com. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  27. ^ Carroll, Larry (2006-06-29). "'Titanic' Mastermind James Cameron's King-Size Comeback: Two Sci-Fi Trilogies". MTV. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  28. ^ Sheigh Crabtree (2006-07-07). "Cameron comes back with CG extravaganza". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2006-10-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ Lynn Smith (2006-08-04). "Special-Effects Giant Signs on for 'Avatar'". Los Angeles Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  30. ^ Duncan, Jody (2006). The Winston Effect. Titan Books. ISBN 1845761502. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  31. ^ Jen Waters (2006-09-28). "Technology adds more in-depth feeling to the movie experience". The Washington Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  32. ^ Andrea Baillie (2008-09-04). "Bigger than Titanic?". Winnipeg Sun. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  33. ^ Sharon Waxman (2007-01-09). "Computers Join Actors in Hybrids On Screen". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
  34. ^ James Rampton (2006-12-20). "James Cameron: King of all he surveys". The Independent. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  35. ^ Harry interviews James Cameron regarding AVATAR - Part 1!
  36. ^ Aili McConnon (2007-04-02). "James Cameron on the Cutting Edge". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
  37. ^ Pamela McClintock (2007-01-08). "Shyamalan's 'Avatar' also to bigscreen". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-13.
  38. ^ Pamela McClintock, Tatina Siegel (2008-04-15). "Nickelodeon, Par team for 'Airbender'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  39. ^ Sharon Waxman (2007-01-08). "'Titanic' Director Joins Fox on $200 Million Film". The New York Times.
  40. ^ Anne Thompson (2007-01-09). "Cameron sets live-action, CG epic for 2009". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-01-13.
  41. ^ a b Josh Quittner (2009-03-19). "3-D: The Future of Movies". Time. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
  42. ^ "Avatar Designs Based on Drilling Rig". ComingSoon.net. 2008-01-12. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  43. ^ Mikael Carlsson (2007-06-19). "Fox confirms Horner on Cameron's 'Avatar'". Film Music Weekly. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  44. ^ Jim Dorey (2008-04-02). "Na'vi Alien Language Incorporated In 'Avatar' Music Soundtrack". MarketSaw Blog. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
  45. ^ Ann Lucas (Fall 2007). "Alumni News" (PDF). UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  46. ^ Mikael Carlsson (2009-01-03). "Top-10 Most Anticipated Scores of 2009". Upcoming Film Scores. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
  47. ^ Dave McNary (2007-07-13). "Hollywood films' dating game". Variety. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  48. ^ Pamela McClintock, Michael Fleming (2007-12-11). "Fox shifts 'Avatar,' 'Museum'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  49. ^ "James Cameron Q & A Podcast from Aliens / The Abyss Event!". MarketSaw. 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  50. ^ "IMAX upcoming releases info". [IMAX Corporation]. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  51. ^ http://thefilmstage.com/2009/08/14/first-official-photo-for-james-camerons-avatar/
  52. ^ "James Cameron's Na'vi Banshees Take Flight In The Avatar Video Game". io9. 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  53. ^ "Mattel is Master Toy Licensee for Cameron's Avatar". ComingSoon.net. 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
  54. ^ "James Cameron Previews 'Avatar'". Variety. 2009-07-23. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
  55. ^ "Dolby 3D is the Official 3D Provider for Comic-Con International 2009". BusinessWire. 2009-07-23. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
  56. ^ "Programming for Thursday, July 23rd" (php). San Diego Comic-Con International. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
  57. ^ "Programming for Friday, July 24th" (php). San Diego Comic-Con International. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
  58. ^ "SDCC: Official "Avatar Day" Press Release!". ComingSoon.net. 2009-07-23. Retrieved 2009-07-23.

James Cameron announced at the Comic-Con Avatar Panel that August 21st will be 'Avatar Day'. On this day the trailer for the film will be released in all theatrical formats. Selected IMAX and digital 3D cinemas around the world will be screening, free of charge, a 16 minute preview of the film created by Cameron. The official game and toy line of the film will also be fully unveiled on this day.[59] Apple.com/trailers will host the teaser trailer on August 21 from 7AM PDT.

Template:James Cameron Films

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